CLIENT CASE USA: ITO EN

ITO EN has been a client at Refresh Agency for 4+ years, and we are truly thrilled to be working with everyone on team ITO EN – a team of passionate people, who are innovative, creative, focused, with attention on results & a commitment to sustainability and social business – a true delight for our team to co-create with.

A collage of some of the media coverage we secured for ITO EN, Matcha LOVE and TEAS' TEA 

& a big thank you to all our media and blogger partners - we love you - all of you!

ABOUT 

ITO EN (North America) INC., a subsidiary of ITO EN(Japan) LTD., is an innovative beverage industry leader dedicated to creating authentic products that embody the company’s five principles of Natural, Healthy, Safe, Well-designed and Delicious. ITO EN is specifically known as a global leader in green tea with award-winning brands, including TEAS’ TEA®, Oi Ocha, ITO EN Shots, Matcha LOVE® and Jay Street Coffee®.  

GOAL 

Refresh Agency was hired by ITO EN to build brand awareness and sales primarily of ITO EN, and the company's two brands TEAS’ TEA & Matcha LOVE in the United States within both the natural- and mass market channels through creative & strategic direction, PR, social media and blogosphere PR, initially in 2011; and the working partnership is still going strong with our annual strategy meeting planned during Natural Products Expo West in California in March.

A big, heartfelt thank you to Rona Tison, Sr. Vice President at ITO EN for these very nice words:

‘Sandja Brügmann has been a consummate professional and a delight to work with. Her social media expertise and guidance not only produced results for us, but helped us set the bar high for our companies strategic planning. Understanding our company vision and business objectives, Sandja helped us navigate through the blogosphere and social media arena with efficiency. Without question, we would highly recommend the expertise and professional services of Refresh Agency.’

RESULTS

• Strategic services & planning of communication initiatives
• Strategic PR & Social Media planning & execution
• Social Media strategic advisor
• Creative ideation on social media and blogger content
• Tradeshow support 
• Press and sales texts 
• Digital Press kits      

For proprietary reasons, we are unable to disclose full data of PR & blogosphere results, however, I can share with you that for the first year and a half, Feb 2011 to June 2012, more than 290 blogs, each with a reach between 3000 – 4,8 million readers, have covered ITO EN. That’s a reach more than 19.9 million readers! More than 1,963,815 Twitter followers, and more than 222,474 Facebook fans have been reached. And these numbers are only the direct of impressions. All ReTweets and reposts have not been counted. A total much more than 30 million impressions. Wauw!

The results have continued to build, and over recent months, we have included print media relations strategy & implementation as well. We are all excited for 2014.

Let’s just say, this has been a solid investment & ROI for ITO EN.

     

10 Do's & Don'ts of Social Media Marketing for Purpose-driven Brands

Refresh Agency has been helping young and mid-sized companies in the natural products industry for more than 16 years. We are a values-based, people-centric business, & we care to make a difference and lead people and our clients to take the necessary steps to shine from their true center – living & doing business from this place creates happiness and decisions beyond one’s own good. And, that’s what we are about: Making a difference for people, planet & profits.

We’ve worked with some of the leading entrepreneurial teams & companies dedicated to sustainability and social good – from Boulder, CO; New York, NY, Venice, CA, Copenhagen, Denmark, Delhi, India, Tokyo, Japan to Cape Town, South Africa including Justin’s, Clementine Art, GoodBelly, Crocs, Chocolove, Neve Designs, Ito En, Teas’ Tea, Spier & Sustainia.

Our expertise and focus is to build businesses from all over the world dedicated to sustainability and social good in the USA & Scandinavian markets through strategic and creative communication, PR and Social Media Marketing.


These 10 suggestions are based on my experience on how to build community, buzz and your brand through social media. The suggestions are meant as a guide and a roadmap. I encourage you to try the suggestions that speak to you for yourselves – adjusting your efforts along the way to find your own path to social media communication success.


1. Do create a plan. Random acts of social media do not work.
A clear aim is the key to reaching our destination – and this goes for all facets of life. Without a proper identified goal and direction your company would likely propel forward at a much slower pace, if at all. Random acts of kindness is a good thing – but ‘random’ is not a word to include in your social media marketing.


2. Don’t talk about yourself all the time. It’s boring.
Building your business and brand through your values - what you give and share, what you care about - your values will draw me in if I share the same values. If you have a unique offer just for me, tell me about it and make me feel special, by all means. As a rule of thumb stay below 20% of self-promo talk, or your customer will doubt your authenticity and trustworthiness.


3. Do learn from your critics.
Instead of seeing criticism as a negative, I suggest seeing the world from a perspective of curiosity, and a willingness to learn and expand. It might be eye-opening to your business to understand a unhappy customers’ gripes. So, instead of shutting down at the sign of criticism, see it as an opportunity.


4. Do respond! Engagement is two-way communication.
67% of brands on social media do not respond to posts on their profiles, which is mindboggling to me. You are sabotaging your own social media efforts, if you do not respond to a customer’s post. Social Media is about generating engagement - that means two-way communication. So, when your customer writes, it means you are on your way to creating engagement. So engage and respond in a timely manner!


5. Don’t have an intern handle your content.
Take your social media brand communication seriously. This is your brand & communication to and with the outside world on a daily basis - treat it as such. There are certain functions an intern can handle, such as promoting the content posts on Facebook, build followers on Twitter, pin images on Pinterest and so forth, but when it comes to your direct communication & customer engagement, I encourage you to make sound and expert decisions for your business & ensure someone with proper credentials and communication skills is responsible for your brand on social media.


6. Do make an informative and unique profile.
The first page on your social media profile is an opportunity to quickly communicate who you are, what you stand for, what you sell - do include your website on the first page, where your customer quickly can get more information about you and purchase your product. This is where branding and key messaging communication comes in handy. Why do you do what you do? What’s unique about your business? How does your visual identity look? Tie it all together.


7. Do have the courage to say it out loud – take a stand.
It is important to share your unique perspective with the world in order to stand out as unique, and not just a ‘me too’ type of brand.
If you are not quite ready to communicate your big idea and viewpoints, perhaps because you are not quite sure how the world will react, then take it in small comfortable steps. However, promise yourself to continue to expand yourself outside your comfort zone, and allow your brand to unfold into its unique and vibrant identity.


8. Do be proactive and engaging.
Prior to attending an event is an excellent opportunity to be proactive. You know that people attending this event have a common set of values up front. Connect with others through #hashtag searches, content and questions to generate appeal and engagement. There is always an interesting way to engage with everyone. Be curious and show that you care in the way you engage.


9. Do provide excellent customer service.
See social media as a cost-saving customer service tool; even for small businesses. It takes a lot less time to answer a customer question on Twitter than to answer a phone call. It saves time, hassle and $ and is much easier for both of you. It does require that you stay alert and track your social media tools, and respond in a timely manner - that means preferably right away, but at least within hours.


10. Do reflect - If I didn’t work here, would I care about this?
An excellent rule of thumb when generating content is to ask yourself ‘If I didn’t work here, would I care about this?’ It’s like the ‘Daughter test’ – would I give my daughter this product to eat, or treat her the way I am treating my employees, or customers. If I would treat my own daughter this way, it’s a go. If not, reconsider, and change it.


You might also find this article helpful:
4 Keys To Creating Successful Social Media Content